WHAT’S BEST FOR HIM? AND OTHER KOANS OF LIFE TODAY
The Mom gives instructions.
The boy looks at his shoes and dances.
The Mom repeats the instructions.
The boy looks into the air and continues to shuffle his feet.
The Mom gives instructions for the third time, her voice rising in frustration.
The boy dances away and says, “Mom, why do you have to be such a bitch?”
The last word got the Mom’s attention like nothing else. Tired and overworked, she might well have lost her temper when her son called her what he did. Instead, the word bitch caused her to stop and go silent. Her thoughts and feelings, her anger and frustration all came to a sudden halt. What remained? Bitch. So she plunged into bitch, her householder koan.
When we work with koans,